Germany threatens ban on Fiat Chrysler vehicles

Germany's government is threatening a blanket ban on all Fiat Chrysler products over allegations the company used a defeat device to cheat emissions testing.

Reports out of Europe allege Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority found evidence of the device when carrying out tests on a Fiat 500X SUV recently. It was discovered the software shuts down certain emissions controls after the vehicle has been running for 22 minutes. The standardised diesel emissions test in the European Union reportedly takes 20 minutes to complete.

Fiat Chrysler vehemently denied the allegations.

"We believe all our vehicles respect EU emissions standards and we believe Italian regulators are the competent authority to evaluate this," the company said in a statement.

The allegations prompted a fiery response from the German government's transport authorities, with Fiat officially reported to the European Commission as well as Italian authorities.

Graziano Delrio, the Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, has reportedly offered to work with German authorities on FCA's behalf. The carmaker itself has been criticised by Germany's transport minister for having an "uncooperative attitude". Minister Alexander Dobrindt also described the car maker's reasoning for differing test results as "totally incomprehensible".

According to EU law, FCA is required to homologate its vehicles in Italy because that's where its regional operations are based. The German government may resort to a complete ban of all Fiat, Chrysler and Jeep vehicles should no resolution come to the surface.